David Stephens of the International Apneapassion Team, 2021 and 2022 British Spearfishing Champion, is the perfect tester for the new revolutionary C4 Ghost fins. With the spearfishing techniques used in the UK, hunting seabasses, the performance of the fins and the amazing camouflage characteristic, given by the transparency of the blades, can make a huge difference. Let’s see what he has told us.
Wearing the C4 250 footpockets
The 250 foot pockets by C4 Carbon, mounted on the C4 Ghost fins are comfortable for my foot and quite easy to put on and off, even though the latter is not their main strength. Also, the quick system for attaching and detaching blades, with a single screw and easy sliding in and out of the blade, also due to the very short side rails, makes changes unbeatably fast and easy.
Surface transfers
I started with relatively low expectations due to finding plastic fins hard work compared to carbon. I was instead pleasantly surprised at how well the fins pushed me across the surface. They felt very good, but of course, could not really reach the performance and lightness of carbon fins. Still they are not heavy like other plastic fins. Part of this was definitely due to C4 250 foot pockets, which are very light.
The first dives
When starting dives, I had forgotten I was using plastic fins, which shows how good they are. Dives felt easy and relaxed, with great manoeuvrability, thus making direction changes very simple.
Swimming in the tide
Swimming in the tide was again a good experience with the C4 Ghost fins, which reacted well to additional strain and power being put through them. Again, I was pleasantly surprised at the reduced fatigue being experienced, despite the conditions. Of course, in such more extreme conditions, carbon fibre fins do make quite some difference.
Agguato and camouflage
It was a great success with the C4 Ghost fins whilst performing Agguato, with quiet slow motion, easy change of directions and lower impact on breath held. To this point, these fins are the closest polymer blade fins I have found to glass fibre fins, in relation to performance and fatigue.
I cannot give yet a precise indication on the effect of the transparency of the blades in reducing the reactions of the fish. Still, indeed some images of the video I made after catching a nice seabass, with the blades of the C4 Ghost fins completely disappearing, give a very good indication of what fish can see and how they can consequently react.
Durability Test
As in the past Omer, with the ICE fins, has tried to design and manufacture transparent blade fins already, which though had frequent issues with breaking and also becoming somehow yellowish with sun and salt water, our David Stephens will continue testing the fins for a few months for a complete durability test! Stay tuned!
